Your letters: September 17, 2008

Since the McCarthy era, when it was popular to blame communism for every wrong in the world, it has been my fear that capitalism — a system tailor-made for the wealthy — would, one day, turn and bite us in our most sensitive and vulnerable area, our pocketbook. That time is here!

I could never understand why the Fed would insure the richest institutions in the world, instead of protecting ordinary citizens, when, in my opinion, the government, and not private institutions, should be our lender, keeping the profit to pay for our most urgent needs — defense, medical insurance, Social Security and education (including higher education).

All of this would be easily paid if the federal government were our lending agency. However, the party of the wealthy, the party of capitalism, was invented. It took control of our money. That is why CEOs earn hundreds of millions per year and others can't get by. Distribution of wealth was a dirty word; now, it seems like a pretty good idea, but, it's too late and our government is saving the great financial institutions on the backs of the poor man's labor and dollars.

We should have seen this coming. It was inevitable. The only solution is to dissolve the major lending institutions, create a Department of Financing and Lending, where every American will have an equal opportunity to borrow and where the government insures its own investment in people and not great corporations. The disparity in wealth between Americans is sinful and unworkable. Money is power and, in a democracy, the power should be with the people and not corporate America.

— Miguel Espinosa Jr., Oxnard

Paying the piper

Monday, the stock market had its worst day since the 9/11 attacks. Lehman Bros. declared bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch was taken over by Bank of America. The remedy by our Federal Reserve is to infuse $70 billion into the markets to shore up the economy. Where did all that money come from? The answer is one of two possibilities: We borrowed it (debt) or we simply printed more money.

It reminds me of the person who can't pay his bills so he borrows more to pay those bills and ends up with more debt and more bills. When the cycle runs its course, the person declares bankruptcy and starts over.

Is this where America is headed? When will this president get it through his head that out-of-control borrowing leads to disaster?

Of course, he's out of office in six months, but, ultimately, it's us, the taxpayers, who will foot this bill.

— Robert Fields, Ventura

Ease up on teachers

Well, autumn is upon us. The days are getting a little shorter and shadows longer. School is back in session, and cartoonist Bruce Tinsley has begun his annual assault on the teaching profession in "Mallard Fillmore."

Tinsley must have been traumatized in school, for every fall he daily portrays teachers as lazy, elitist, radical goldbrickers who sup at the public trough and care not for the students in their charge.

Interestingly, I don't think The Star would tolerate similar attacks on police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians or nurses, but teachers somehow are fair game. Also, The Star would not print the same editorial, knocking the same issue, every day, yet Tinsley is allowed an unfettered, daily attack on teachers.

I challenge Tinsley to put down his Crayons and teach full-time just for a week. I am certain that he would run so fast back to his pseudo profession that it would make his little duck's head spin.

I also challenge The Star to have the editorial courage to tell Tinsley when he is out of bounds and refuse to publish his unfair and baseless attacks on educators. He has the right to spread this venom, but The Star has the right to refuse him publication.

— Gary E. Murphy, Simi Valley

Altering animals has a cost

In June, I found a puppy at my school. I put up fliers and I walked the neighborhood to find the owners. After six weeks of trying, I decided to keep the puppy. I was not working at the time, but I knew I needed to get her fixed and licensed. She was already five months old.

I found out through a friend that the county of Ventura offers a voucher to spay or neuter your pet. The voucher was, I think, $40. Anything at this point would have helped.

Well, I called the county, and the shelter spokesman told me that it only offers vouchers to owners of licensed dogs. To license an unaltered dog was $60. So I would have to pay $60 to the county to get a $40 voucher. This, to me, makes no sense at all.

It cost me more than $200 to get her fixed and licensed. It's no wonder people do not get their dogs or cats altered. It would have been cheaper to send her to the pound and then adopt her after the county shelter fixed her. That would have been only $125.

— Rhonda Grenier, Simi Valley

Pickens Plan brings hope

When an oilman and environmentalists agree, you know the momentum for real change is building.

That is just what is happening. Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens and Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope are talking about the Pickens Plan, which calls for huge increases in investment and production of wind power and using American natural gas as a transition.

In a recent ad publicizing the plan, Pickens says the current debate over drilling "misses the point." I concur. The current political emphasis on whether or not to open up more of the coastline to drilling is a distraction, a "head fake." Pickens, who's made billions from oil, believes the Bush administration is wildly exaggerating how much oil can be found offshore and in Alaska. Most Californians know it's not in our tourism interest to clutter our coast unnecessarily with oil rigs and the danger of spills.

Americans should take notice: More drilling for oil might enrich the already obscenely rich big oil companies trying to wring every drop out of oil profits. But it's very unlikely these companies will sell the oil they eke from the last preserves in America for less money than the oil they buy from the rest of the world, so it won't help the cost of gas at the pump.

The failed policies of the past won't move us forward. True economic opportunity for all Americans is in clean-energy technologies like wind and solar. Even T. Boone Pickens understands that. The question is: When will our leaders in Washington?

Let me get this straight. The Ventura County Transportation Commission wants to hire a lobbying firm using our tax dollars to promote a tax increase. Isn't that illegal? Besides, what part of "No!" does the VCTC not understand regarding higher taxes? It is high time it got over its bad case of tax envy.

Instead of hiring a lobbying firm, why doesn't the VCTC take a trip to Sacramento and get back the nearly 60 cents per gallon in taxes we are already paying? Why doesn't the VCTC lobby Sacramento to actually spend our tax dollars on true needs like transportation?

I am sick and tired of being asked to cough up more and more in taxes and getting less and less in return.

The need for railroad-safety reform is now, as Cason's stated. I don't know a darn thing about trains, but unfortunately, it takes tragedy to reform failed systems.

It seems to me that the following obvious things or something like them must be put in place before riding the rails is safe:

— Why is the side-track switching (passing) area in Chatsworth or anywhere on a curved part of the track with no visibility in either direction down the track? How hard is it to figure out that these shared side-track areas for waiting/passing must be on straight parts of the track with visibility in either direction of at least a couple of thousand feet or more? At least that way, perhaps one of the conductors would have a clue and could maybe radio someone or take evasive action. I realize there may have been nothing anyone could do, but in an age of cell phones and digital technology and old-fashioned radios, maybe railroad safety could apply some of it.

— Speaking of radios, it seems to me that communication between passing trains on shared tracks should be mandatory before the pass. At least have a five-minute rule that each passing train sharing the same track must make contact and confirm the upcoming pass for safety. If contact is not made, then at least one of the trains should pull off, automatically sensing disaster in the works. An upcoming pass on a shared track with no contact from each train simply can't happen again.

— Just as freeway lanes have warning bumps that signal you are going into the other lane, auto sensors must be placed on the track that signal an upcoming passing side track is coming. These could make a noise, trigger a sensor and send a warning reminder that a passing track is approaching. Again, if either train yields, disaster could be averted.

I know nothing about trains, but this tragedy, perhaps caused by human error, is filled with catastrophic system flaws that must change now.

To quote theologian Martin Niemoeller: "In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

Let's all stand with the Anti-Defamation League at 7 p.m Tuesday at the Camarillo Boys & Girls Club. Send the skinheads a message that there is a greater number who love, than those hate!

Whether you are Jewish, Christian, Muslim or other; white, black or brown, stand up and be counted at this meeting and show our solidarity against hatred.

— Delores Vigil, Ventura

Blame assigned too quickly

There is a concerted effort by the powers that be to focus blame for Friday's horrible accident upon the Metrolink engineer. We are led to believe this accident happened because the engineer ignored a red signal light, as if he were a bus driver.

Approaching trains on the same track have passed each other for centuries by one train switching onto a siding, permitting the other to pass.

Was the Metrolink train switched onto the siding right before the collision or not? If it was, the engineer would not have merely had to ignore a red signal light. He and the conductor would have had to ignore the fact that no freight train had passed by on the main track before they proceeded.

Buried or ignored is the most relevant issue: The switch that would have shunted the Metrolink train onto the siding was open, meaning that both trains were still on the main track, on a collision course, with the freight train hidden from view in a tunnel around a curve. Had the Metrolink engineer seen a freight train barreling toward him at 40 mph, his options would have been to reverse the train or evacuate it —choices not made lightly, I would think.

Without knowing for a fact that a collision was imminent, what should he have done? Should he have contacted the control center to ask if the signal light was malfunctioning? What methods of contact are available to him? What is the quickest way to find out if a collision is imminent, as opposed to a signal malfunction? Cell phone, perhaps?

— Frederick Weniger, Simi Valley

Coyotes around

As a reminder to residents of Ventura County who may not live "up against a hillside" and do not think wildlife come down to their homes, please think again.

I live on the west side of Simi Valley in what is called the "Greek Tract," right down the hill from Wal-Mart. I am not right up against any hillside. The closest hills are up near Countrywide or toward the west, along Easy Street. Our neighborhood does have the arroyo/wash running behind us, and the wildlife do travel the wash and come into neighborhoods looking for trash and pets. Raccoons and opossums are not unusual to see.

At 3:30 a.m. Sept. 7, a neighbor woke up to leave on a fishing trip and saw a coyote standing underneath my streetlight. The next morning at 2:30, my large dog started barking like crazy, no doubt because that same coyote was roaming the streets.

The cats you leave outside at night are a coyote's food source. My neighbors found the remains of their cat on their front lawn just recently. Another cat around the corner vanished just before school started.

If you want to see your pets ever again, bring them inside at night. If keeping them in your house all night is not an option, then lock them in your garage and let them out in the morning.

The wildlife was here long before our homes were here. We just keep pushing them back farther and making it more difficult for them to hunt, so they turn to our neighborhoods.